Self editing 4 fiction #4 ~ Point of View

What a Difference a Year Makes…

January 1st 2013... A new year begins, but
it seems like only yesterday when I posted my January 1st 2012article
heralding Russell Blake as the paradigm author for the year. Having already
read his early work, Fatal Exchange, The Geronimo Breach,King of Swords and The Delphi Chronicle, it was a
no-brainer for (such a fussy reader as) me to forecast that this author was one
to follow during 2012. For me, his output rate was just as important as his engaging
content – how often does one find a writer who ticks the boxes only to discover that the next novel publication date is a year, or two, away…which can be
frustrating. But not with Blake: and to illustrate this for those who have yet
to hear about the Blake phenomenon, here is a résumé of the many thrillers he
penned during 2012 – preceded by an informative Q&A session that sheds a
little light on the neo-publishing industry and what makes this prolific author
tick.

Producing eight
well-received, quality thrillers in just a few months is something of a
superhuman undertaking (and there are those among us who wonder whether you’re actually
a native to this planet). How on Earth do you manage it?

I found that if you
forego eating and sleeping there are a lot more hours in the day with which to
write. Seriously, that’s not far from the truth. My writing schedule looked
something like this: 7 am, start writing. Midnight, stop writing. Figure if
each novel took roughly 200 hours for first draft, and then another 100 or so
for second, and roughly the same for third, then off to editing, the hours to
craft a quality product are there.

Many authors write two to three hours a
day, so it would be the equivalent of six to nine months of writing packed into
a very narrow time frame. What’s odd is that once you get used to that pace, it
gets easier to just move to the next one. As an example, look at the timeframe
to write Silver and the four JET books. That’s almost half a million
finish-quality words in, what, five months? Edited, too. And proofed. Very,
very aggressive, but I figured while the muse was dancing it would be poor form
to interrupt...

And yet you still have
time to host an interesting and informative website for readers and
aspiring authors alike, which has garnered a cult following – in a recent article there,
you allude to the benefits of Amazon, contrary to the cynical musings of many
on this corporate leviathan.

In your opinion, how have they affected
the state of the art for both reader and author – and how effective in
comparison are their competitors, such as B&N and Smashwords?

Amazon single-handedly
created the indie revolution we’re now seeing move from infancy stage to
something approaching toddler stage. It’s still all so new that the playing
field is changing literally weekly. On the pro side, Amazon created a
commission scheme that enables an author like me to make a nice living writing,
without hitting massive numbers that would be required in a traditional
publishing world. And for all their faults, and they do have plenty, they are
still much better than the rest, from both an author as well as reader
standpoint.

They got it right with the Kindle when
the rest of the tech gurus were laughing at the idea of people reading eBooks.
They got it right on the delivery system. Their site is easy to navigate and
their lists make it easy to find books that interest you. Barnes is so busy
kowtowing to the traditional publishers that they keep shooting their own foot
off. Their site is crummy, in a word. They sequester indie books to a ghetto.
They are in bed with trad pub, which unfortunately means, in my eye, that they
put the interests of the big publishers first, and those of the reader second.
That’s a lousy business philosophy, and it shows in their numbers. As to
Smashwords, they make uploading to all the sites simple, but their reaction
time is abysmal and their formatting requirements are a joke. Not that I have
an opinion or anything.

From where I’m sitting, your recipe for success needs no condiments or
garnish – in the spirit of your parody How To Sell A Gazillion eBooks In No Time, for an aspiring indie
author, what is the perfect “Recipe for Failure”?

Now that’s an easy one: do
what the vast majority of indie authors do.

First, dust off whatever crappy
manuscript you’ve had in a drawer for years, or alternatively, decide that
writing a book is easy, requires little to no study or understanding of craft,
and is something anyone can do without any sort of preparation or effort.

Second, eschew professional editing,
preferring to upload the screed without any proofreading or editing of any
competent sort – better yet, complain that it costs money to do it right, and
nobody’s made out of gold, so maybe once the book sells a ton, then you’ll
consider fixing it.

Next, go amateur on the cover, figuring
that if you have to spend any kind of real money making your work look
professional you just won’t do it, preferring to create something that looks
like a second-grader’s art project.

And finally, save the paltry bucks on
getting your work formatted, instead just hoping for the best as a
do-it-yourselfer.

Once it’s live, spend no time on your
blurb – typos, incoherent or illiterate rants, meandering indecipherable jabber
– all are good and will lure readers in. Put in hours sending out impersonal
“Buy my book” tweets to an audience of other authors who don’t buy books and are
only on Twitter to hawk their books,
equally ineffectively.

When it’s all done and you aren’t
selling, whine and bemoan your fate rather than looking at all the things you
did wrong, and learn nothing in the process. Then repeat. Because there aren’t
nearly enough crappy books in the world.

A lot has changed in
the publishing industry since Bill Gates took over the world. Such as for
typing and editing: gone are the days of reams of paper scarred with correction
fluid – and those not lost in the parcel post returned (eventually) with a load
of red, esoteric squiggles for the author to decipher – and then re-type the
whole thing to go through the whole process again.

What are your favourite technological
advancements for the author and reader?

Boy, the ability to
store hundreds of books on a small, easily-readable device is number one.

A universe of reasonably-priced books is
number two. Note those are both from the reader’s perspective.

From an author’s, eReaders have made
reading fashionable again. Amazon’s commission scheme (followed by others) has
made it possible for mid-list authors to earn attractive livings.

Print on Demand gives one the ability to
create hard copy books without having to do huge print runs, at relatively
reasonable prices.

Outsourcing editing, cover design,
formatting enables authors to run all the quality control a big publishing
house would at fractions of the costs.

I can honestly say there’s never been as
exciting a time to be an author. The world has changed for us, fundamentally,
and we, as well as readers, win big.

Rumour has it that you
sold over 100,000 copies of your novels during 2012, not counting almost
500,000 free downloads. So, for 2013, are you tempted to take a gap year and
spend some of your royalties on designer drugs, loose cars, and fast women – or
do you intend to keep up your relentless pace until you do a face-plant on your
keyboard?

The rumor you heard is not
far off the mark, if a little understated…though I suppose not all the free
downloads will actually be read.

I’m actually hoping that the fast women
bring the drugs when arriving in their loose cars, thereby saving me the
expense.

Seriously, the pace I’ve worked at – 18
novels in 18 months – is an insane one, and I have to slow down. 2013 will be 4
to 5 novels, max. The world now has enough Russell Blake thrillers. I’m not
sure that what would really put me over the top would be those sixth and
seventh 2013 novels. A little decompression between books would be a welcome relief,
and one I plan to avail myself of this coming year. Then again, I think I said
that at the start of last year, too, so I lie. Nature of the beast, and all.

One final question,
Russell: now that you are rubbing shoulders in the Amazon best-sellers list
with the likes of Ian Fleming and James Patterson you have a certain amount of
game – game which attracts those alpha females like a smiling baby attracts a
politician. Of all the eye-candy in the store, which female celebs have the
sort of honeypot that would float your boat? You can fill a hot tub with them,
if you’re feeling reaaal hungry…

Once one gets to a
certain age, as long as the women are breathing, have most of their limbs and
no obviously-contagious diseases, it’s all good. Of course, if Jessica Alba or
Mila Kunis wanted to come over and sponge bathe me, I wouldn’t fight it. I
might even be convinced to buy the first rounds of drinks. One has to remain
open to new experiences, after all.

Thanks, Russell. Thanks
to you readers, too – now, go buy something salient from Blake’s thoroughbred
stable! Click HERE to be magically spirited to Aunty
Amazon. But not before you take a spin through Russell’s 2012 writing year
below:

The Voynich
Cypher, March, 2012

When a sacred
relic is stolen from its subterranean guarded vault, Dr. Steven Cross, amateur
cryptographer, becomes embroiled in a deadly quest to decipher one of history’s
most enigmatic documents – a 15th century parchment written entirely in
unbreakable code; The Voynich Manuscript. Stalked by secret societies, and
aided by the daughter of a murdered colleague, a trail of riddles catapults
Cross from England to Italy to the Middle East, where a Byzantine web of
ancient secrets leads him to a revelation so profound it will change the world
order.

Revenge of the
Assassin, May, 2012

Revenge of the
Assassin is the breakneck-paced sequel to the bestselling international
thriller King of Swords. When El Rey, the super assassin responsible for Latin
America’s most spectacular hits, returns to Mexico for one final sanction, the
race is on for Captain Romero Cruz of the Federales to stop him before he can
fulfill his contract to kill the president. Revenge will delight fans of King of
Swords, and offers the same gritty, unpredictable ride of thrills, twists and
surprises before arriving at a conclusion that is sure to leave readers
gasping.

Return of the
Assassin, June, 2012

Return of the
Assassin is the shocking continuation of the saga of El Rey, the notorious
Mexican cartel super-assassin whose legacy of impossible kills has earned him
the reputation as the most lethally effective hit man in the world. Faced with
impossible choices as he races against time, El Rey must return to a cartel
underworld where the smallest slip means instant death, on a suicide mission to
save the life of a young woman whose escape and survival is inexorably linked
to his own.

Silver
Justice, August, 2012

Manhattan. A
ruthless serial killer is butchering financial industry high rollers. FBI
Special Agent Silver Cassidy, the head of a task force that’s on a collision
course with disaster, finds herself fighting impossible odds to stop the
murderer before he can kill again. Struggling to balance the hunt for a savage
predator with the challenges of being a single parent, Silver finds herself
thrust into a nightmare of brutality that will demand every ounce of
determination she possesses to survive.

JET, October,
2012

Code name:
Jet. Twenty-eight-year-old Jet was once the Mossad’s most lethal operative
before faking her own death and burying that identity forever. But the past
doesn’t give up on its secrets easily. When her new life on a tranquil island
is shattered by a brutal attack, Jet must return to a clandestine existence of
savagery and deception to save herself and those she loves. A gritty,
unflinching roller-coaster of high-stakes twists and shocking turns, JET
features a new breed of protagonist that breaks the mold. Fans of Lisbeth
Salander, SALT, and the Bourne trilogy will find themselves carried along at
Lamborghini speed to a conclusion as jarring and surprising as the story’s
heroine is unconventional.

JET II –
Betrayal, October, 2012

Twenty-eight
year old Jet, the former Mossad operative from the eponymous novel JET, must
battle insurmountable odds to protect those she loves in a deadly race that
stretches from the heartland of Nebraska to the corridors of power in
Washington, D.C., from the lurid streets of Bangkok to the deadly jungles of Laos
and Myanmar. Fans of Kill Bill, the Bourne trilogy, and 24 will be delighted by
this roller-coaster of action, intrigue and suspense.

JET III –
Vengeance, November, 2012

Jet III – Vengeance
finds Jet settled down, trying to return to a somewhat normal life of stability
and safety. But fate has other plans for her when she becomes embroiled in a
terrifying terrorism plot involving figures from her past, whose thirst for
revenge forces her back into the kill-or-be-killed world she’d hoped to put
behind her forever.

JET IV – Reckoning, December, 2012

JET IV –
Reckoning pits Jet against the deadliest threat yet – an enemy with endless
resources who will stop at nothing to destroy her. From the mountains of
Indonesia to the streets of Washington, Jet discovers in a breakneck-paced
roller-coaster of action that danger lurks in the unlikeliest of places and
nothing is as it seems.

I certainly hope we don't go into a Blake-induced tailspin - but if so I should hopefully be able to pull back sufficiently on the joystick if Sarah Palin drops by for tea and biscuits in the next proposed article, and regales me with insights into her NYT best seller "Going Rogue".

If she wants the kudos of being featured on here, she can bring her own tea bags, mind: us Brits are still a bit tetchy about having our favourite infusion cast into Boston harbour by a bunch of subversive scallywags who exhibited no regard for the innocent marine life therein...

Well thank you! Always nice to hear that someone liked the work. I'm working my fingers to little nubs on the next Assassin book, Requiem for the Assassin, so hopefully we'll hear more from Cruz and El Rey soon. Again, appreciate the kind words. If you haven't had a chance, do check out JET - the series is going ballistic, and I have the first one on sale for .99 for a limited time. If you like King of Swords, you will flip for JET - I guarantee it!

@L Thanks! It's always a pleasure to converse with Russell Blake. Have you visited his website? http://russellblake.com (the live link is in question #2) - it's brimming with interesting and informative articles.